Chapter 276 Ghostly Shock

“I’ll trade with you.” Ling Mo took Xia Xinyan’s mirror without a second thought and swapped it for his own.

He had said that as long as he was alive, he wouldn’t let Xinyan face a shred of danger.

Xia Xinyan stared at him for a while, saying nothing.

In the past, she might have accepted it without hesitation since this guy willingly took on her risks while she enjoyed the comfort.

But now… she still had that comfortable feeling, but it was mingled with some strange emotions.

Ling Mo genuinely cared for her; even the act of swapping mirrors seemed almost instinctual on his part, as if he had already placed her safety above all else.

It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that Ling Mo was the first person in her two lifetimes to care for her like this.

Though, it was a bit odd that this Ling Mo was another version of herself…

【Why not try to forget this thought, Host?】

Tianji, who hadn’t spoken in a long time, suddenly interjected.

Xia Xinyan paused: ‘What thought?’

【The original you is not another version of you. According to strict temporal theory, when you were reborn at the initial time node, you became a completely different individual from your original self. So you can totally stop viewing your original self as another host; this might help you accept things better.】

Xia Xinyan fell silent for a moment.

‘Shut up.’

Tianji instantly fell silent.

But it had to be said, time truly can change everything. Even though Xia Xinyan didn’t want to admit it, over the past half year, her perspective had changed significantly from the moment she was reborn.

She couldn’t articulate the specifics of that change, but she felt she was gradually adapting to her current identity.

She didn’t know if that was a good or bad thing.

But anyway, venting her frustration on Tianji was definitely a safe bet.

After all, that thing was the reason she found herself in this situation.

While Xia Xinyan was chatting with Tianji, Ling Mo and the others also began to investigate their surroundings.

The ancient town was shrouded in a strange atmosphere that seemed to suppress their abilities—most notably, their physical enhancements had taken a significant hit, leaving them only slightly stronger than average soldiers.

Although the buildings in the ancient town weren’t tall, they couldn’t climb onto the rooftops to look out, even though Ling Mo conjured climbing tools; there seemed to be an invisible barrier on the top floor, making it increasingly strenuous to climb, and they felt an irresistible unease, as if some terrifying presence awaited them on the roof.

Ling Mo soon realized this was probably a game limitation, designed to preserve the inherent lethality of this dungeon.

In addition, the roads in the ancient town were labyrinthine; the main road was barely wide enough for a cart, while the narrowest alleys couldn’t even fit a person. All the buildings were in ruins, showing signs that no one had lived there for a long time, with most entrances plastered with “No Entry” seals, while a few doors were ajar, revealing darkness inside—typical for anyone with common sense to avoid entering.

“Great, we don’t even know how big this ancient town is, how many players are in the contest, or how to complete the dungeon; isn’t this just groping in the dark?” The fat guy, holding a bone magic wand, walked down the main road of the town, looking helpless.

Bai Yu released several mechanical bees to probe their surroundings, but the situation didn’t look promising: “All the mechanical bees lost signal after leaving the maximum visual range; the interference here is strong, but aside from the interference, we haven’t found any other…”

“Ah ah ah ah ah—!!”

A sudden, piercing scream from a woman in the distance interrupted him.

The scream sounded utterly inhuman, even carrying an underlying psychic assault, momentarily dazing the four of them; those with weaker mental fortitude experienced a flicker of uncontrollable fear.

The fat guy immediately touched his shoulder: “Holy crap! Has someone already been hit?!”

“Doesn’t seem like it,” Ling Mo shook his head. “I think that sound was made by a vengeful spirit, probably to remind us that the safety time is over.”

Xia Xinyan edged a little closer to Ling Mo, quietly saying, “Mo Mo, be careful.”

If the vengeful spirit was going to attack, then Ling Mo, wearing the golden mirrored mirror, was the most vulnerable. While they had some exorcism tools in their spatial watches, nobody could guarantee their effectiveness.

After all, according to the game system’s hints, the ghosts in this dungeon had no means of being killed except through sealing; otherwise, they could just hard tackle them.

Ling Mo nodded and speculated: “It’s fine; since this is a PVP dungeon, the game shouldn’t set too many vengeful spirits that would exhaust us. That would miss the point. I believe the real challenge of this dungeon lies in picking them off one by one. Other teams should also have soul mirrors, and every team probably has a member with a golden mirror; there should only be one or two vengeful spirits, and with at most four or five teams in a dungeon, having two spirits against four or five golden mirror carriers is already sufficient.”

After a pause, he continued: “The challenge should involve fighting other teams for the lesser-ranked soul mirrors, shifting the threat onto them, then using the safe time to seal the five elements.”

Or they could also choose to not engage other teams and go directly for sealing the five elements—that would depend on whether the main quest shared progress across dungeons or whether different teams had separate progress. Anyway, having one golden mirror in a team would distribute some of the potential attack risks; as long as they could withstand the vengeful spirits’ assaults, that method would work.

As for the idea of abandoning the golden soul mirror to avoid risk, Ling Mo didn’t even consider it—after all, that would be like choosing to kill oneself to avoid dying of old age; a sane person wouldn’t even come up with such a scheme.

The fat guy pondered for a moment and nodded: “That could really work, so let’s go grab a few soil ones…”

“Someone’s ahead.” Xia Xinyan suddenly interrupted the fat guy.

Looking up, across the dim main road, four towering muscular figures approached—decked out in big gold chains and watches, wearing sunglasses and smoking cigars, flanking a blue dragon on the left and a white tiger on the right, dressed like thuggish gangsters, which momentarily took Xia Xinyan and the others out of the scene.

It felt like they’d suddenly jumped straight from the horror of the ancient town to a gangster flick.

The leader of the group then said something that made them feel even more so: “Hey, the four in front, are you people or ghosts?”

“I think they’re people,” another big guy guessed, “Why would ghosts be this fat?”

Fat guy: “…”

What the heck? Is that size discrimination?!

“If they’re people, then it’s simple,” the leading thug exhaled a puff of smoke. “Are you going to hand over the soil mirrors yourselves, or do you want us to take them by force?”

However, Ling Mo and the others didn’t pay him any heed.

Only Ling Mo kindly pointed behind them: “You guys, do you have five people in your group?”